Baseball caps are becoming increasingly popular worldwide. What once originated as a functional item for athletes has now evolved into aa regular n apparel item for persons in all walks of life. Baseball caps are currently offered in categories ranging from those that are purely ornamental, or that bear information that is purely for entertainment purposes, to those bearing information relating to team identification or information relating to businesses, events, etc.
The proliferation of baseball caps with athletic team identification thereon has led to the development of many different types of displays, manners of displaying those caps. At one point in time, baseball caps with an identification of a team thereon, were generally made available only in geographic regions close to where that team played. A limited number of designs made possible a relatively compact display with few choices for the consumer.
Merchandising of team paraphernalia has changed drastically since that time. The headwear industry has now targeted not only fans loyal to local teams but collectors and those seeking a wide range of different style and different designs for a particular team. Thus, a point-of-purchase display for baseball caps may contain hundreds of different designs, which are placed for convenient surveillance by a potential purchaser. The goal of the designers of such displays is to present the caps in an aesthetically pleasing manner without requiring excessive amounts of space.
Another objective of the designers of basic displays is to present the caps so that they are in the most commonly accepted shape. At the time of manufacture, most baseball caps are made with the collapsible crown and a bill which projects forwardly from the crown and normally through less than half the circumference of the crown. The bill is secured to the crown so that the bill generally has a gently curved, inverted, “U” shape as viewed in front elevation. From this shape, wearers may deviate, as by providing creases to define a more squared “U”, or by other commonly used reconfigurational techniques. However, the original, smoothly curved inverted U shape is that which is maintained by both wearers. Most displays are thus designed to feature caps in this configuration.
It is common for potential consumers to try headwear on at the point-of-purchase displays. In doing so, they may re-shape the bill from its original configuration to a more personally preferred configuration. The result of this may be that the caps at a particular display may have different bill configurations resulting from the actions of potential purchasers.
The industry has devised a number of different apparatus for re-shaping the bills to their original curvature. Examples thereof are shown in each of U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,475 (Scharrenberg); U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,927 (Barboccia); U.S. Pat. No. 6,510,972 (Briskey); U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,558 (Lawrence); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,329 (Thompson). Certain of these, such as those shown in Briskey and Levin, are relatively bulky and not practical for use at point of purchase. While Thompson shows a relatively unobtrusive device for re-shaping a bill, the apparatus is installed midway between the front of the bill and the crown, at which a relatively substantial force must be imparted to effect any appreciable formation of the bill. Thus, the device may have to be quite stiff, thereby generally adding to its cost. Additionally, the bill may become damaged as installation or removal of the apparatus is effected. Consequently, generally little has been done to date at point of purchase to maintain or re-establish the original curvature of the bills on baseball caps.
Another problem that has persisted with existing displays is that of readily making known to the prospective purchasers the identity of the manufacturer or distributor of the headwear. Heretofore, the most common methods of identification have been the use of sewn in tags on the inside of the crown and hang tags which are releasably secured for display on the inside or outside of the crown. These conventional identification techniques generally require that the prospective purchaser individually pick up and inspect the headwear pieces to make such an identification.
Brand recognition has been particularly a problem with respect to baseball caps that are “stacked” in a horizontal array. With this type of display, the crowns are normally collapsed from rear to front to define a rearwardly opening, curved receptacle. This receptacle accommodates the front of the crown of a cap displayed immediately therebehind. In other words, the caps are nested, one within the other, in a line with the bill of the forwardmost cap exposed and the bills on the remainder of the caps underlying the bill of the cap immediately forward thereof. This compact arrangement allows the prospective purchaser to leaf through the nested crowns to make an appropriate selection. Until a particular cap is separated and inspected, there is generally no easy way to identify the manufacturer. This presents a problem to those manufacturers/distributors that wish to be identified amongst the products of potentially a large number of other manufacturers/distributors displaying their wares at the same location.
The industry continues to contend with the above problems due to the absence of any viable solution. This problem is contended with not only with baseball caps, but other billed headwear, such as visors, and the like, which in conjunction with baseball caps, will be considered “baseball” caps, for all purposes herein.